The proposed research investigates the early development of information processing skills, focussing primarily upon the development of visual recognition memory in infants between three and twelve months and the development of recall memory assessed by means of delayed imitation in infants twelve to twenty-four months. The specific objectives of the research on recognition are to study long-term recognition memory, to examine the role of knowledge in the encoding and retention of visual stimuli, and to assess the presence and the effects on memory of contextually induced shifts in attention. Each of these issues is examined developmentally in order to understand the characteristics and determinants of development. The studies of delayed imitation represent an attempt to begin a program of research on the development of recall memory. A cued imitation paradigm is described, and several studies using this paradigm are offered. The longer-range goals of the research are to obtain a thorough understanding of the early course of normal development of infant memory abilities and to relate this understanding to (a) the course of development of complex cognitive activities such as language, (b) individual differences in development, and (c) patterns of abnormal development.